Epidural Steroid Injection

[Smooter]

I'm going in this Thursday to have an injection into my spine to treat a degenerated disc in my back. Has anyone else had this done before? I'm not too sure what to expect.

[skinsfan_nn]

Had many (countless). Piece of cake, they are usually done at your local hospital so the Dr. that does these injections all day can watch the x-ray machine while inserting the needle to give you the injection in the proper location/vertebrae, no guess work.(However, some Dr's/Pain management offices can do them in house).

Just keep in mind as some get temporary relief some even longer relief, some get none at all. It's just a band aid on the problem, it will not repair a degenerated disc just help with the pain if your lucky. Surgery was the answer for me and now has come leaps and bounds, and talk to your Dr. about a long term real fix to the problem I'm quite sure this will be next in line.

Side note: Many years ago, you could only get three injections a year. I would get those in the first three months. If it gets bad enough you will welcome surgery and never feel better, at least those where my results.

[JGisLordOfTheRings]

Originally Posted by Smooter

I'm going in this Thursday to have an injection into my spine to treat a degenerated disc in my back. Has anyone else had this done before? I'm not too sure what to expect.

That doesn't sound too fun....

[Smooter]

Originally Posted by skinsfan_nn

Had many (countless). Piece of cake, they are usually done at your local hospital so the Dr. that does these injections all day can watch the x-ray machine while inserting the needle to give you the injection in the proper location/vertebrae, no guess work.(However, some Dr's/Pain management offices can do them in house).

Just keep in mind as some get temporary relief some even longer relief, some get none at all. It's just a band aid on the problem, it will not repair a degenerated disc just help with the pain if your lucky. Surgery was the answer for me and now has come leaps and bounds, and talk to your Dr. about a long term real fix to the problem I'm quite sure this will be next in line.

Side note: Many years ago, you could only get three injections a year. I would get those in the first three months. If it gets bad enough you will welcome surgery and never feel better, at least those where my results.

Thats kinda what the doctors said. They scheduled me for this first visit and if I feel some relief they're going to give me two more within the next month or so. I guess I'll see how this goes, but eventually I'm sure I'll have to have some sort of surgery. I'm only 25 so having this type of problem this soon is kinda a bummer, but I'm getting a new position at work since I'm on restrictions and more than likely will have difficulty doing my job from this point on. (I'm an welder for an oilfield equipment company and had the injury on the job.) What type of surgery did they do to you if you don't mind me asking?

[That Guy]

sucks to hear that :/ best of luck though.

[Smooter]

Originally Posted by That Guy

sucks to hear that :/ best of luck though.

Thanks, I'll update as soon as the sedatives wear off. lol.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by Smooter

Thanks, I'll update as soon as the sedatives wear off. lol.

sounds... awesome...

[RISkinsFan]

I've had 2 series of 3 injections and had no luck with them. Both times I wound up in the hospital because they made me worse. I was 32 when I first got hurt and now I am 35.

They offered me surgery but didn't recommend it because of my age and you are younger then me. I am against the surgery and will only have it if it is the choice between that and a wheelchair. I have a total of 9 discs that are shot. The doctors said I have the back of a 90 year old. I have been through everything except for surgery. The only thing that has helped me is an inversion table. It has brought me back to almost a full life. If you can get a doctor to say you need the table, worker's comp will have to pay for it.

I forgot to add that once you have any type of fusion surgery, you can no longer use an inversion table. Try out one of the tables before you have anything major done to your back.

[redsk1]

Originally Posted by RISkinsFan

I've had 2 series of 3 injections and had no luck with them. Both times I wound up in the hospital because they made me worse. I was 32 when I first got hurt and now I am 35.

They offered me surgery but didn't recommend it because of my age and you are younger then me. I am against the surgery and will only have it if it is the choice between that and a wheelchair. I have a total of 9 discs that are shot. The doctors said I have the back of a 90 year old. I have been through everything except for surgery. The only thing that has helped me is an inversion table. It has brought me back to almost a full life. If you can get a doctor to say you need the table, worker's comp will have to pay for it.

I forgot to add that once you have any type of fusion surgery, you can no longer use an inversion table. Try out one of the tables before you have anything major done to your back.

I was diagnoed w/ Deg. Disk Disorder about 7 years ago and i'm 35 now. At the time, the Dr's were kind of shocked and said too that i had the back of a 90 year old. I have some scoliosis as well. I'm in pretty good shape but still am bother by my back almost constantly. I basically don't disks in my lower back (the lowest 3). I was told too that surgery is not an option right now. I was told that there was nothing to do but live w/ it.

Can you give me some details of the inversion table?

[Finslady]

RISkinsFan doesn't post enough to be able to post links , but I'm his girlfriend so I'll post it for him.

Teeter Hang Ups - Inversion Products - Inversion Tables

This site also has more medical information as well as statistics:

Using Your EP-550 Inversion Table

He has the F7000 model, which is the one shown on the homepage. He researched inversion for a year before getting the table and Teeter has the best reputation that he's found. The website pretty much explains everything so I won't get into how it works.

I will say this though. He uses it everyday and 90% of the time it relieves a great deal of his pain.

Cortisone was horrible for him. It put him in the hospital every time and once, emergency surgery was even considered as a result. I'm not saying don't have the shots. I'm simply saying what happened to him. You know your body better than anyone, so do what you think is best.

[RISkinsFan]

I really should post more then once a year My back is a complete disaster. Not only do I have degenerative disc disease, that made 5 discs dry out, I also have 2 bulging discs, one herniated disc and a torn disc. I thought about the table for along time before getting it. I wish I had bought it years ago, I might have avoided all of this if I had.

When I first got the table, I started off at 20 degrees and it gave me a huge stretch. Now I hang completely upside down and go through the stretches. There are some days it doesn't help, but like my girlfriend said, 90% of the time it does it's job.

Just for an idea what the table does, before I got hurt I was 6'2". After my back fell apart I was down to 5'11". Today, after using it for about 6 months, I am back up to 6'1".

[jsarno]

I saw this on TV not too long ago, and I am assuming this is what you guys are talking about:
Inversion Therapy for Back Pain - Do Inversion Tables Really Work?

Does it really work?

I really sympathize with everyone that has back pain. My lowest disk is about 1/8th of the size it should be (fusion has been discussed), I have two bulging disks, authritis (sp?), and I have a lumbar that is twisted out of place. The chiropractor has tried and tried, but he's only been successful at taking my money. I have been on vicodin for over 3 years. My pain is about a 3 on a scale from 1-10 all the time (10 being drop dead pain), but when I piss it off (seems to be at least once a week), the pain is a 7 or 8. The doctors are talking surgery, but they say once I start, there will be a series of surgeries. I am only 33 and very hesitant. So if a device like this would work, I'm all for it.
Has anybody out there tried it?

Smooter...sorry man, I have not had an injection. My intial reaction to it is that I wouldn't do it. I have heard a lot of negative stories about people that have had injections into the spine. Not trying to scare you, but unless your pain is severe all the time, I don't think I would risk it. But hey, you probably have better doctors out there, so the chance of a screw up is far less likely, and you likely have talked to others that have success. So I wish you the best of luck. I know nothing can be as annoying as back pain.

[Monkeydad]

From watching my wife get an epidural while delivering our son...you're in for some pain.

Plus, it they poke it just a fraction of an inch to the left or right, you could be paralyzed.





Have fun.

[Smooter]

Well I'm home and coherent enough to post up here. It was fairly easy and painless. They shot me up with something in my arm once I got there, after about 15-30 minutes they rolled me into the operating room and rolled me over. Then the doctor started asking me a few questions as a nurse was injecting some other shot in my arm. The doctor then tells me I'm going to feel a prick and the next thing I know I'm being told to roll over. I'm not completely sure what happened, lol. I'm unsure if I was completely knocked out or not, but regardless it was a painless ordeal. Right now I'm feeling absolutely no pain, but I'm still somewhat groggy from the sedatives. If everything goes well and I still feel relatively well within the next few days to a week I will continue on with the next two injections. I'll keep up to date. Thanks to everyone who posted.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Smooter

Well I'm home and coherent enough to post up here. It was fairly easy and painless. They shot me up with something in my arm once I got there, after about 15-30 minutes they rolled me into the operating room and rolled me over. Then the doctor started asking me a few questions as a nurse was injecting some other shot in my arm. The doctor then tells me I'm going to feel a prick and the next thing I know I'm being told to roll over. I'm not completely sure what happened, lol. I'm unsure if I was completely knocked out or not, but regardless it was a painless ordeal. Right now I'm feeling absolutely no pain, but I'm still somewhat groggy from the sedatives. If everything goes well and I still feel relatively well within the next few days to a week I will continue on with the next two injections. I'll keep up to date. Thanks to everyone who posted.

Giggidy!

jk, glad to hear it all went ok.